This blog is for everyone interested in traveling, Eastern Europe, History, genealogy, Judaism, or just curious about Moldova. My father, sister and I made a long awaited trip to Moldova in 2008 and then I returned with my wife and daughter in 2012. Hope you like our stories, discoveries and thoughts. You can also check the website for the film we made, called Mamaliga Blues at www.mamaligablues.com
Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

STORIES OR FACTS?

A few contacts I made in the past months didn't help me much to put some pieces together in this genealogical
puzzle that can never be totally solved - only improved. But gave me more information to investigate.

The
first was Francisco Wexler, descendant of Jewish Bessarabians who
settled in Brazil, like my grandparents. In a conversation with my
father, he said that in the village of Oliscani, in order to keep warm
in the harsh winter, the houses were built with double walls. People
would light the fireplace and the heat would be stored in the space in
between walls - hence warming it up.

Jackie
Talpalar in Israel shares an extremely similar last name, but we
haven't found a connection yet. However, he said when he saw the picture
of my
great-grandparents grave in the Mamaliga Blues
website, it was the only time he's read "Tolpolar" written correctly in
Hebrew. And that is actually "Talpalar". Am I a Talpalar now...?

I
don't know, but when I spoke to Semion Hinkis, also in Israel, he
convincingly
explained that
Talpalars and Tolpolars are not directly related, coming from different
villages in Bessarabia. A long time ago, Jews didn't have a surname.
When the time came that the Tzar obliged them to have one, it was just a
coincidence that two different families chose similar - and very
uncommon - last names. The same way all "Stein", "Kaufman", etc. may
not be related. And in addition, he said "Talpa" in Romanian is not
related to the shoe sole as we thought, but to a bat. Yes, the animal
bat.